Fitting a performance Race Chip (?)

macvisual

macvisual

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Peter
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I currently drive a 2005 Audi A4 2.0 TDi (136bhp), although I love the car I've recently been looking at these race chip modules that help increase performance and slightly increased fuel economy........and torque.

I found a company called Race Chip, so they're dedicated RaceChip1 module for my car costs £109 (free post) and states an increase of 27 more brake horse power with torque benefits also. It's a wiring harness that plug n' play's which connects into your existing cars wiring harness, then you plug in the RaceChip box etc...

Any petrol heads here that can advise me if this is a good purchase or a waste of money..? Any experience/thoughts appreciated. Thanks.


https://www.racechip.co.uk/?dm_tpl=17555&dm_ad=4&dm_fb=0,0,0,0&gclid=CLv15v7zmtQCFcUy0wodg3ECCQ


Regards;
Peter
 
I prefer a proper remap myself, although my brother had one of these fitted to his Omega TDI. These tend to just increase the turbo boost a little and pump in more fuel. I've never seen improved economy on anything I've had tuned. My current car is remapped to add an extra 80 ish bhp and it's transformed the car, but still does about 18mpg. I'd look at some Audi forums and check their recommendations.

When I had a VAG car I used these to remap it.. http://www.jabbasport.com/
 
Avoid any company like that that quotes increases of xx% and offers no proper technical details, exactly such as this. Proper engine tuning requires a dyno, it does not come plug and play.
 
Well it's £109 to try it and you get 30 days trial, so ...

A remap is the best bet, but our neighbours dad had a Merc and installed one of these (or another companies - but it was a plug and play) as he wanted more torque for towing, really pleased with it and had no issues at all with it, but his engine was in good condition and had been very regularly serviced.

I would as has been said above check out the Audi forums to see what they popularly use (or more importantly do not recommend) and what they cost...

I was browsing for something the other day and stumbled on AC Shnitzner site and they offer a 60HP upgrade for £3115 !!!
 
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wOw great replies, thanks for the advice guys......!

On another note, a friend of mine owned an older model Mazda 3 MPS and took me for a 15 mile spin, wow I couldn't believe the power from the standard 255bhp motor, very quick. Really impressed.

I'd love one of these but prob loose my license too easy.
 
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cars like yours are built with some spare capacity so they can run form 100k miles and more with good care.
27bhp is a fair bit on your car and will have an impact to wear and tear but if that is what you want go for it.
as long as it is in good condition and well maintained the engine should be ok but don't chip it if it is a munter.
 
What is the likely effect on your insurance premium? would be my first question.
 
Mr Bump said:
cars like yours are built with some spare capacity so they can run form 100k miles and more with good care.
27bhp is a fair bit on your car and will have an impact to wear and tear but if that is what you want go for it.
as long as it is in good condition and well maintained the engine should be ok but don't chip it if it is a munter.
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27bhp is a relatively small increase on a 2.0tdi engine. Providing the chip isn't just tricking the injectors to over fuel and is actually altering the map, such a small increase won't do any harm but you are correct the engine needs to be in a healthy worthwhile condition. Personally I'd go for a proper dyno custom remap from a reputable tuner. Even some dyno operators just load up generic remap but take more money off you for the use of the dyno.
 
rick448 said:
I prefer a proper remap myself, although my brother had one of these fitted to his Omega TDI. These tend to just increase the turbo boost a little and pump in more fuel.
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That is pretty much what any remap or chip will do. But a custom remap for your own engine alone should always produce better results than a generic map for that particular make of engine.
 
I've always been puzzled by these. If there's a software/firmware way to get more power for less fuel then why aren't Audi already doing it? What's the downside?

munch said:
What is the likely effect on your insurance premium? would be my first question.
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It's a modification - they can basically charge what they want. Or not pay out if you don't tell them.
 
munch said:
What is the likely effect on your insurance premium? would be my first question.
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JonathanRyan said:
It's a modification - they can basically charge what they want. Or not pay out if you don't tell them.
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Ah! there be the rub.

Surely whether a plug & play or full remap you will need to factor in a likely big hike in the insurance premium! It does make me wonder......does everyone modding as above declare it or try to 'go under the radar' ignoring their responsibilities?
 
Many insurance companies are only concerned about the cost of the modification rather than power increase.

As for downside of a remap / chip and why manufacturers don't produce that power from the outset. That will be emissions, or maybe the likelihood of plans to produce a more powerful version at a later date. Manufacturers tend to now produce different power levels from one engine rather than having to build many different engines of different sizes.
 
Box Brownie said:
Ah! there be the rub.

Surely whether a plug & play or full remap you will need to factor in a likely big hike in the insurance premium! It does make me wonder......does everyone modding as above declare it or try to 'go under the radar' ignoring their responsibilities?
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I modified my previous car, larger intercooler, decat, silicone boost pipes, performance air filter, custom built performance exhaust, lowered updated suspension, performance brake discs and pads and a custom remap.
Increase in insurance was about £50.
 
nilagin said:
Many insurance companies are only concerned about the cost of the modification rather than power increase.

As for downside of a remap / chip and why manufacturers don't produce that power from the outset. That will be emissions, or maybe the likelihood of plans to produce a more powerful version at a later date. Manufacturers tend to now produce different power levels from one engine rather than having to build many different engines of different sizes.
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Re: insurers ~ so the cost of the mod increases the car value = higher premium? I would have thought power increase was greater weighting factor I.e. more powerful in hands of a/the particular age & gender driver = higher premium?

Re:modern engineering coupled with control electronics ~ makes to "design & engineer" that way because of economy of scale in regard to production costs......software is cheaper than hardware.
 
nilagin said:
As for downside of a remap / chip and why manufacturers don't produce that power from the outset. That will be emissions, or maybe the likelihood of plans to produce a more powerful version at a later date. Manufacturers tend to now produce different power levels from one engine rather than having to build many different engines of different sizes.
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Indeed true - a lot of engines are quite detuned from the factory just to hit a certain emissions or insurance target - doesn't bode well for sales if your car in a certain market segment costs more to tax and insure than a competitor just because it has an extra 20hp.

Of course, some are detuned so as not to destroy other parts of the car, tuned diesels in particular can put out huge amounts of extra torque, so pays to do a little research beforehand. The engine may be more than capable of safely putting out a lot more power, but that's not much use if it blows your gearbox to bits the first time you pull away quickly from the lights or eats your clutch after 1000 miles. :D
 
nilagin said:
I modified my previous car, larger intercooler, decat, silicone boost pipes, performance air filter, custom built performance exhaust, lowered updated suspension, performance brake discs and pads and a custom remap.
Increase in insurance was about £50.
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Sorry I was typing when you posted. Such a modest increase must be affected by your age.....how much would a 25yo pay for the same car compared to you?
 
Specialist modified insurance can be pretty good.

Even Admiral when I insured my old Ibiza with coilovers, stiffer arb, stiffer bushes, and the remap (130 up to 170 bhp on a tdi) was only a small amount extra.
 
There are lots of specialist insurance companies that cater for young drivers with modified cars so it is possible for them to get a fairly reasonable quote but obviously age will come into play regardless of whether a car is modified or not. My car was insured through one of the normal big name insurers rather than a specialist.

As for longevity of an engine or other components after modification, my car had already covered 49k miles before it was modified and it was at 98k miles that I destroyed the clutch slave cylinder. Clutch was replaced as it was contaminated with the oil and the dual mass flywheel was only just beginning to show signs of wear. The torque increase after the modifications was over 60 lb/ft.
 
Had a look at the website but couldn't see much info on it, but was browsing on my phone.

This sounds like it's a tuning box which basically takes the inputs from the various engine, exhaust & air sensors and then adapts these readings to trick the existing engine ECU into over fuelling.

the benefits tend to be:
Convenience - it arrives in the post rather than taking your car to a garage.
cost (cheaper)
removability (so doesn't affect warranty) - won't apply to you
Can be used in engines with encrypted ECU. - yours isn't encrypted so a score draw on that point.

Agree with others that you'd see better and (in general) smoother performance getting a proper remap. This does cost more though and as your ECU is before the days of encryption, there should be multiple options open to you.

Have a look at:

Badger5
Revo
Superchips

Audi sport dot net is a good place to check out comments/reviews.
 
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JonathanRyan said:
I've always been puzzled by these. If there's a software/firmware way to get more power for less fuel then why aren't Audi already doing it? What's the downside?
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Because some owners won't service the car on the recommended intervals, some markets may have poorer quality fuels (etc) and a mass market car will need to have compromises built in to accomodate things like that. Changing the fuelling, timing(where applicable) and boost allows more power to be generated but it means the demands on the engine and other components are greater, so correct servicing / maintenance assumes more importance.

I'm sure no-one here skips services because they've only done 4,000 miles in the 12,000 miles / 12 month service period, but I have met people that do.
 
Great replies........thank you!

I think I'll just forget about the RaceChip, so today I focused on spending half a day hoovering out my A4, fitted new wiper blades, only a matter of days ago I got 4x new tyres fitted, a new fan belt for the power steering and inner part for alternator (as it was squealing like mad). Cleaned/polished inside car and checked tyre pressures etc, I've now got the interest back that I had lost a while ago.

For a 2005 model car it's pretty much in excellent condition with 104k miles on the clock, two owners from new (including me).

:)
 
Box Brownie said:
Sorry I was typing when you posted. Such a modest increase must be affected by your age.....how much would a 25yo pay for the same car compared to you?
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You need to remember that the cost of insurance is essentially random. I can imagine insurers that would put premiums down because you remapped an engine. Though I bet they don't really exist.

onomatopoeia said:
Because some owners won't service the car on the recommended intervals, some markets may have poorer quality fuels (etc) and a mass market car will need to have compromises built in to accomodate things like that. Changing the fuelling, timing(where applicable) and boost allows more power to be generated but it means the demands on the engine and other components are greater, so correct servicing / maintenance assumes more importance.
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Makes sense, thanks. So essentially you are working the car harder.
 
be careful with the flywheel and clutch (if manual). These can be overloaded and fail particularly if already >50% worn. You want turbo and vacuum system operating in perfect condition as these could be the next point of failure.
 
How fast does a road car need to be?

Fair enough if the remapped/chipped vehicle is looking for more performance on a racetrack, I'm sure I read somewhere that some focus's or was it fiesta st''s were having major engine problems because of remapped vehicles. I
 
frank said:
How fast does a road car need to be?
I
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I guess that's down to the individual. Though I'm sure we will end up having the "you can only do a maximum of 70 debate"

I'd suggest the OP wants theirs to be a little faster, hence asking the question.
 
frank said:
How fast does a road car need to be?

Fair enough if the remapped/chipped vehicle is looking for more performance on a racetrack, I'm sure I read somewhere that some focus's or was it fiesta st''s were having major engine problems because of remapped vehicles. I
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Nothing wrong with having a car that can accelerate quicker as that will be the main benefit, top speed doesn't really matter.
The mk2 Focus ST with the 5 cylinder Volvo lump can sometimes get cracked bores, a simple mod of a shim between the bores prevents this from happening.
 
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frank said:
How fast does a road car need to be?

Fair enough if the remapped/chipped vehicle is looking for more performance on a racetrack, I'm sure I read somewhere that some focus's or was it fiesta st''s were having major engine problems because of remapped vehicles. I
Click to expand...

Many cars are fairly adequate. I'm happy with the stock output of 2.0TDI 140bhp passat for example. However when you get to some crazy cars like Hyundai Santa fe 2.2 155bhp you realise they have serious trouble to overtake or pull out of a busy junction. Those are the ones you really want to tweak.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Many cars are fairly adequate. I'm happy with the stock output of 2.0TDI 140bhp passat for example. However when you get to some crazy cars like Hyundai Santa fe 2.2 155bhp you realise they have serious trouble to overtake or pull out of a busy junction. Those are the ones you really want to tweak.
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The other good thing with having a proper remap is you can tweak the torque to make the cars much more driveable, overtaking is also safer as you spend less time on the wrong side of the road!
 
rick448 said:
I guess that's down to the individual. Though I'm sure we will end up having the "you can only do a maximum of 70 debate"

I'd suggest the OP wants theirs to be a little faster, hence asking the question.
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Aah, but it's how fast can you get there that counts :D
 
macvisual said:
I currently drive a 2005 Audi A4 2.0 TDi (136bhp), although I love the car I've recently been looking at these race chip modules that help increase performance and slightly increased fuel economy........and torque.

I found a company called Race Chip, so they're dedicated RaceChip1 module for my car costs £109 (free post) and states an increase of 27 more brake horse power with torque benefits also. It's a wiring harness that plug n' play's which connects into your existing cars wiring harness, then you plug in the RaceChip box etc...

Any petrol heads here that can advise me if this is a good purchase or a waste of money..? Any experience/thoughts appreciated. Thanks.


https://www.racechip.co.uk/?dm_tpl=17555&dm_ad=4&dm_fb=0,0,0,0&gclid=CLv15v7zmtQCFcUy0wodg3ECCQ


Regards;
Peter
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Where in Scotland are you?
 
macvisual said:
Close to Stirling, Central Scotland.
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A bit of journey for you but I've used this place to remap my CRV http://www.moorfieldmotorservices.co.uk

They've got a 4WD capable rolling road with full dyno charts before and after. It's a custom map specially for your car and fine tuned so not just boosted power but power band curves changed etc . I think I paid about £270 which is not bad for a custom map on a rolling road.
 
gman said:
A bit of journey for you but I've used this place to remap my CRV http://www.moorfieldmotorservices.co.uk

They've got a 4WD capable rolling road with full dyno charts before and after. It's a custom map specially for your car and fine tuned so not just boosted power but power band curves changed etc . I think I paid about £270 which is not bad for a custom map on a rolling road.
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Boosted power will alter the power band curve anyway.

Peter, have a look into a larger intercooler upgrade, the lower air temps and extra torque maybe enough to transform the car for you. You can always get a custom map later to take greater advantage of it if you want more.
 
If they just boost the power the curve shape will be the same, only everything will be higher on the scale. A custom remap should change the actual shape of the curve. I'll see if I can find my dyno charts from the CRV and also some generic charts top show what I mean. The AWD system on the CRV was causing some slippage on the rolling road at lower revs but the general idea can be seen.
 
I am fully aware of how power curves can change. I'm a engine development engineer. I run and develop boost and power curves quite often. It's not always necessary to change the shape of a curve or always possible. Sometimes it's just not safe for the engine or some of the components.
 
nilagin said:
I am fully aware of how power curves can change. I'm a engine development engineer. I run and develop boost and power curves quite often. It's not always necessary to change the shape of a curve or always possible. Sometimes it's just not safe for the engine or some of the components.
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I found the initial comment a little ambiguous so I expanded a little, that's all.
 
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